Effervescent ||Tsu'tey||

The sound of a leaf falling

Her arms shook as she struggled to lift the heavy jug out of the lake. Lefwaso, the clan's ceramist, had asked her to bring three of them to be filled. The task had seemed easy enough, the clay was dense and thick but it wasn't too heavy. But, driving it through the water was enough to make her meager arm muscles burn and protest, barely managing to pull the jug out of the water even while leaning back. The water sloshed around the rim when she placed it with the others.

Her brows furrowed as thunderous, uneven footsteps shook the ground. The lake was peaceful, interrupted only by the sounds of the forest and her humming. The Na'vi were light on their feet and their steps were hardly discernible from the surrounding ambience.

"There you are, Alva!" Jake shouted from half-way across the lake. Every other step he stopped to adjust the ragged loincloth Neytiri had forced him into the night before.

"Jake!" Alva scolded. "Keep your voice down."

Jake sat down next to her. It was odd speaking to this version of his face. It looked like him but at the same time it didn't. How much of this face was Tom and how much was Jake, how much was either of them and how much unnamed Male. It smiled like him.

"You weren't at the debrief."

"I wanted to get an early start." Alva said.

"Carrying water jugs?" He asked, grinning.

She glanced at his empty hands. "Everyone in the clan has a part to play. Where's your teacher?"

His grin turned sheepish and he hunched over. "She, uh, disappeared."

"You lost her?" Alva chuckled. "You really are like a prrnen."

"Hey, that's what Neytiri calls me." Jake exclaimed. "What does it mean? She won't tell me."

Alva grinned but said nothing. Instead she grabbed another one of the jugs and started refilling it. The water was chilly against her skin, but a welcome relief from the glaring sun. She had to be careful not to scoop up the schools of colorful fish swimming around.

Jake shifted, tugged at the string of his loincloth and sighed.

"You get used to it." Alva said, referring to the uncomfortable look on his face. "The Na'vi don't have the same view on skin like we do. Dressing like this symbolizes openness, purity and devotion to Eywa."

"I keep hearing that name. Eywa. Norm said she was their god."

Alva placed the last of the jugs on the ground and shook her head. "Eywa is so much more than just a God. She is everything. She is the stars watching over you at night, the water that quenches your thirst, the food that nourishes you, and the love you give to your loved ones."

"You had a whole speech ready." Jake chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't know, it all seems very mumbo jumbo, shaman woman with a crystal ball in a tent, to me. It's just a forest."

"A forest with more connections than the human brain." Alva reminded him. "Everything here is woven together like a tapestry, each living thing their own thread but together they form what you see in front of you. Eywa is the needle which carries them, she guides them to their rightful place."

"You really love this Eywa, huh." It wasn't as much of a question as it was a statement.

She nodded. "I can feel her."

"Feel her?" He ripped chunks of grass from the ground. "Did you take your pills this morning?" He asks with a grin, but the joke falls short.

Without looking at him, she scrambled to grab one of the jugs. "I think I hear Neytiri calling for you. Bye!"